The New Recruits
by Gnat1
Summary: The Freedom Fighters have recruited an extra team. A team that does all the odd jobs why the original group worries about Robotnick. Unknown to these "new recruits" is that they've become the target of a new, dangerous enemy, and possibly a regrouped Destructix. NO LONGER ACCEPTING OCS! Sorry, but I've reached the limit.
1. Prolouge

The room was dark and quiet. It was a room that was hardly cleaned. It  
was located in a police department, used for questioning criminals. A  
lone table sat in the middle, accompanied by two chairs. A lion-like  
figure sat on one of them.

The door creaked open as a large green crocodile stepped in the room.  
He flicked a light on as he went over papers.

"...Thunder the Lion, correct?" the crocodile, known as Vector asked.

The figure nodded.

"Well, Thunder." Vector continued, "You realize how much your wanted  
for in Central City?"

"Look, man, I didnt do it."

"How? You were filmed on video! Are you trying to tell me a lion  
looking just like you stole thousands of weapons from G.U.N?"

The figure didnt answer.

"Where are your teammates?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Vector tried not to chuckle. He had seen this so many times.

"Look, how long will it take for you to get through your head that I  
didnt do it?"

"Sorry, Thunder. But I dont believe you. Now listen, your going to be  
held in a cell, at G.U.N Agencies. I was just trying to get you to  
talk, but I guess G.U.N's going to do it, the hard way." Vector then  
unlocked the figure's arms from the table, placed handcuffs on him,  
and led him out the door.

VvVvVvVvVvVvV

"Sonic?" a familiar voice asked. Sonic opened his eyes to find Sally  
Acorn in front of him.

"Hey, Sal..." He said with a yawn. "Sorry, I must've dosed off.

"No worries, Sonic." Sally reassured him. "I need to talk to you about  
something. You heard about the break-in at G.U.N, correct?

Sonic nodded.

"Well, Chaotix and G.U.N got one of the team members, but the rest are  
still out there. Should I we get the Freedom Fighters on their trail?"

Sonic sighed. "We cant, Sal. Egghead built that new air base. If we  
dont do anything about that, Eggy will have the advantage, and that'll  
stink."

"Then what do we do? These criminals must be stopped!"

Sonic looked up at the night sky. He just now remembred that he had  
fallen asleep alongside the Lake of Rings. Memories came back as he  
gazed at the stars. A smile spread on his face as an idea came to  
mind.

"Why dont we make a new team to send after them?" he said.

Sally thought about this. "Do you mean... recruiting new people?"

Sonic nodded. "Ask around, advertise it, whatever. We'll get new  
recruits, train them, and bam! A new team!"

Sally nodded. "Hopefully, this will be easy."

**A/N: There ya go! A new team is being created! Feel free to PM me an**  
**OC Bio! I've got a lot of ideas for this fic, but dont expect the next chapter 'till sometime next week, unless I manage to update soon.**

**Ciao!**

**-Gnat1**


	2. Time Warp

**A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter! This will introduce four of the OCs. Btw, here's the OC's I'm using in the story: Lexi the**  
**Hedgehog, Scorch the Hedgehog, Micheal "Darkness" Dawson, Kaitlyn**  
**Thorne, Devlin the Lynx, Sir Bedwyr the 2nd, Whirl the Hedgehog,**  
**Eclipse the Hedgehog, Janice "Bangs Cahill, and Unova the Wolf.**

**Disclaimer: I dont own anything from the Sonic games or comics. All**  
**OCs belong to respected owners.**

_The fear. The cries of pain. The image of innocent people dying before_  
_his very eyes. The bloodshed. The fierce battle. The horror. He_  
_watched all of this, tears streaming down his face. He saw Shadow, now_  
_an old man, gasp for breath. He ran over to see him. He cried as he_  
_knew that Shadow's life was fading._

_"Take this..." Shadow whispered as he wrapped the figures hand around_  
_a chaos emerald he had taken out. "Stop him. Stop him, Whirl! Flee! Go_  
_to the past, before Shifter is created. Before this bloodbath_  
_restarts..." He gasped as he looked to the sky. "Goodbye, Whirl..."_

_The figure clutched the emerald. He swore for revenge. He raised the_  
_emerald above his head._

_"Chaos... CONTROL!"_

**Time: 2:08 AM**

**Location: Outside New Mobotropolis**

Whirl snapped his eyes open. The memories just flooded through his  
head. He looked around. He stood on the top of a grassy hill. It  
appeared that he had teleported back in time. Well, at least something  
worked. He wasn't sure if he would like doing this or not. But he knew  
that if he didn't do it, then the future would be crushed. He sighed  
as he looked around. He seemed to have arrived in the middle of the  
night. He could see many more grassy hills rolling across the horizon  
in the moonlit night. City lights could be seen casting a glow behind  
the hills in the distance. To his right a thick jungle could be seen.  
The calls of birds were heard within, along with a stream, as if it  
was trying to tell you a secret within the deep jungle.

Whirl was a light blue hedgehog, along with some streaks of navy blue.  
His spikes looked like a combination of Shadow and Silver's spikes,  
resulting in a somewhat messy appearance. On his chest was a patch of  
white fur. He also wore inhibitor rings on his wrists. His dark  
crimson eyes gazed at the surrounding attack, expecting anything to  
happen. Well, except for what was about to happen.

"You've got a lot of nerve, time-warping like that."

Whirl jumped in suprise. He spun around to see what appeared to be a  
figure floating down from a cut in reality.

The figure was a black male hedgehog looking very similar to Shadow.  
In fact, he looked identical to Shadow. The only difference was that  
this hedgehog was completely black, along with a tan oval stomach.  
Practically everything he wore was black. He had a black hoodie, black  
glasses, black fingerless gloves, and black and white sneakers. He  
appeared to be around fifteen years old. He was going over what  
appeared to be information on a tablet device. He looked up at Whirl.

"You Whirl the Hedgehog?"

"...Yes..." Whirl said, not sure what was going on.

"How old are you, kid?"

"Seventeen." Whirl said impatiently. "And who are you to call me a  
kid? You're like what... thirteen?"

"Fifteen." the black hedgehog corrected. He then motioned to himself.  
"The name's Michael Dawson, but you can call me 'Darkness'. I'm also  
the leader of the Zone Cops, and you just time-warped without proper  
notice. You also dragged two mobians along with you. This could lead to an arrest."

"I never saw two mobians!" Whirl growled.

"Heh. Thats 'cause you just got here, bro. Now, I'm going to need to  
see the device you used for time travel."

Whirl rolled his eyes and presented the yellow chaos emerald to  
Darkness, who lifted an eyebrow at seeing this.

"Chaos Control, eh?" Fine, thats okay, I'll let you go this time. But your going to need to do  
something about your 'guests'."

Whirl turned to see two figures behind him, both lying on the ground.  
One was a sky-blue male hedgehog with two white stripes going down his  
middle quill. He had emerald green eyes and white fur on his chest. He  
wore white gloves with purple lines on them, dark red shoes with small  
studs on the sides, and gold inhibitor rings on his wrists, ankles,  
and neck.

The second one was a female wolf wearing a short-sleeved red tunic,  
gray tights, and a grey belt. She also had grey boxing gloves on,  
along with red ugg boots. This was the figure that Whirl and Darkness  
approached first.

"Hey, wake up!" Whirl growled, nudging his foot on her shoulder. The  
wolf jumped up with a start.

"Where am I?!" She demanded. "Did anyone survive?"

"Well, we did." Whirl said while thinking. "You must be from the same timeline  
I'm from. I've traveled back in time to stop Shifter before he's created.  
You must have gotten dragged along with me."

The wolf looked at him, frightened. "I-Is Shifter S-Still here?"

"No." Darkness said, "Whoever your talking about, I dont know. But if  
my readings are correct, You have warped back long before this  
'Shifter' of yours was created." he read more information about the wolf on his tablet device. Her name was apparently "Unova". Whirl moved over to the blue hedgehog and roughly shook him awake. Unlike Unova, this mobian woke up calmly.

"Where... am I?" He asked. Whirl said the same thing he had explained  
to Unova. This hedgehog, however, just got more confused.

"Shifter? Whose that? The last thing I remember doing was saying  
goodnight to my parents..." the hedgehog said.

"How did you not see it? The world was destroyed!" Unova said as she  
clenched her hands, a tear rolling down the side of her face. "That...  
That monster killed Sonic, Silver, Blaze, Tails, and everyone else..."

"WHAAAAAT?" The hedgehog demanded. "Silver and Blaze... are my parents!"

Whirl's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding? I saw them die before my eyes!"

Darkness stepped in. "Lets not argue." he said. He turned to  
Whirl. "I believe he is from a timeline a whole generation ahead of  
you, somehow he got dragged along as well."

Whirl nodded. An awkward silence took place for about five minutes,  
until the hedgehog broke it.

"Um, my names Eclipse." he said nervously. The others nodded.

"If your going to stop Shifter before he's created, how would you do it?"  
Unova asked Whirl.

Darkness answered for her. "According to my zone tracking system, we  
are near the Freedom Fighter base. We could get help there." He then  
took out a small radio. "Zonic, you there?" he asked into it.

"Yes sir." a reply cackled through the radio.

"Do you know where the F.F. Base is?"

"Outside New Mobotropolis. Head towards the lights." The answers were  
short, but they told Darkness what he needed to know.

"Alright, you three, follow me." Darkness said as he pointed at  
Eclipse, Unova, and Whirl.

"W-Where are we going?" Eclipse asked.

"Looking for help." Darkness replied. "Oh, and Whirl, I want you to  
tell me more about this situation."

**A/N: Okay, short chapter, I just needed to get the time warp scene out of my head.**

**Scorch: Hey, where are we in this chapter?**

**Lexi: Yeah, whats the big deal?**

**Bedwyr: Er... what just happened?**

**Bangs: Hmph. You should have warned us that we wouldnt be in here.**

**Devlin: Grr... where are we? You only introduced 4 of us!**

**KT: If this is a joke, it isnt funny. *pulls out daggar***

**Gnat1: WAIT! DONT! YOU GUYS WILL BE COMING INTO PLAY NEXT CHAPTER!**

**Bedwyr: You still havent answered my question...**

**Gnat1: Time Warp. You'll figure it out later.**

**Bedwyr: Okaaaay... so, can you update soon?**

**Gnat1: As soon as I can. I need to update my other stories.**

**Scorch: well HURRY UP!* flames burst out of his hand***

**Lexi: heh heh, yeah! *pulls out two swords***

**Bedywr: *readies Aquarion***

**Devlin: Grr... *grabs ninja stars***

**KT: Yesz! We get to pull out random weapons! *pulls out random weapon***

**Bangs: umm... okay. *pulls out another random weapon***

**Gnat1:AAAAAAAAAUUUGGHHHH! THEY'RE GONNA KILL ME! Readers, if you have an OC in this fic, would you mind telling them to behave themselves? I dont want to have to punish them...**

**Scorch: OH, SNAP! WE'RE BEHAVING, WE'RE BEHAVING!**

**This is Gnat1, signing out.**

**Ciao! **

**-Gnat1**


	3. Recruiting a Team

**A/N: NEWS FLASH: GNAT1, AUTHOR OF THE NEW RECRUITS, AND VARIOUS OTHER**  
**STORIES, HAS BEEN MISSING IN ACTION.**

**But I'm back. No worries. This would have been up sooner, if it wasn't**  
**for a poor school grade (Curse you, biology.) but 'eres chapter 3 :)**  
**:) :) XD XD XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, except for Thunder.**

**-Chapter 3: Recruiting a Team-**

**Time: 6:05 AM**

**Location: Directly Outside New Mobotropolis**

The sound of moterbike engines roared, surrounding the two mobians.  
The fast bikes took sharp circles around the duo, threatening to slam  
into them. The pale, morning sun barely shone down on them, revealing  
the bright green remains of the nanite-made grass. The two mobians  
glared at the dangerous riders of the motorbikes, waiting for a chance  
to escape.

One was a male fifteen year old hedgehog. He had red fur, black  
stripes, and red eyes. His appearance was completed with black  
sneakers and white gloves.

The other mobian was a male nineteen year old lynx. He had pink fur,  
wore an army jacket with a beret, and a belt along with combat boots.  
A six-shot  
revolver hung in a holster on his belt. He also wore what appeared to  
be shock gloves.

Niether were having an enjoyable time.

Suddenly, the motorbikes stopped, and the engines turned off. Three  
figures exited their bikes, and walked toward the two.

"Now whatta we got here?" a purple weasel asked in a mocking tone.  
"Surely you two werent planning on leaving without saying goodbye."

The lynx looked up and growled. "Leave us be, Nack. It was an accident."

"Or what, Devlin?" the weasel, known as Nack, addressed the lynx.  
"Next time you should be more careful, knocking our bikes down like  
that. Then, you wouldn't have to deal with Team Hooligan."

A yellow polar bear grabbed Devlin, the lynx, and began squeezing his  
neck, in an attenpt to strangle him. Devlin smirked and placed his  
hand on the polar bear's arm, a wave of hot electricity coming from  
his gloves. The bear yelped and dropped him instantly.

"None of that now, Bark." Nack growled at the bear. He turned to the  
hedgehog. "He's weaker. Deal with him first." he said as Bark,  
accompanied by a green duck, made their way toward the hedgehog.

"Pound the red one, big guy." the duck said with a smirk.

The hedgehog only chuckled. His hands burst into flames, shooting a  
fireball at his enemies. The bear and duck screamed as they tried  
desperately to get the flames off. The hedgehog smiled as he watched  
them run into a nearby pond.

"For the record, Bean, you can call me Scorch."

Nack glared at them.

"Alright, game over." He growled as he pulled out two revolvers.  
Devlin sighed why Scorch rolled his eyes. There ALWAYS had to be a  
gun. It was unavoidable. No matter how good one could fight, it never  
ended without a gun. Devlin considered pulling his revolver out, but  
knew it would just make Nack shoot him. With a sigh, he raised his  
hands over his head, Scorch following.

Nack chuckled. "We're not doing that."

Scorch growled. "Your just gonna shoot us?"

"Why not?" Nack said with a smirk. Cocking both guns, he aimed for his  
targets, about to pull the trigger.

"OOF!" he shouted as a blur of green shot out of a nearby tree,  
tackling the weasel.

"You know the rules. No guns allowed in public areas." a female voice  
hissed, punching the weasel and knocking him out cold. Devlin made  
sure to hide his revolver.

The figure that had taken out Nack stood up, allowing Devlin and  
Scorch to see it more clearly.

It was a female, emerald green fox. Two tails flowed in the light  
morning breeze behind her. Thick bangs took up her forehead, and were  
swept to the right, allowing her light, ocean blue eyes to be seen.  
She wore a fuschia string halter top, a black skirt, complete with  
black boots. She appeared to be around thirteen years old.

"What happened here?" She asked.

Scorch shrugged. "Don't ask me. We just tipped their bikes."

"Motorbikes." Devlin corrected. "HE did it, I just tried to back him  
up. I've had a few tie-ins with these chums before." He then brought  
his hand out. "My name is Devlin. Devlin of the Raiju clan. And you  
are?"

The kitsune shook his hand firmly. "Janice Cahill," she responded,  
"But you can call me 'Bangs'."

Scorch turned to face the others. "Um, yeah. It was nice meeting you  
guys, but I need to get going."

Devlin rolled his eyes. He just meets Scorch, after watching him knock  
a couple of bikes over, helps him get rid of Team Hooligan, and now  
he's just going to take off.

"Aren't you going to explain why you knocked their bikes over?" he  
asked impatiently.

"It was an accident. I was heading towards the  
Freedom-base-thingy-whatchamacallit."

"Your reffering to Freedom HQ?" Thats where I was heading." Bangs  
said, looking across the field, spotting the familiar Freedom Flag.

"Hmph. I was going that way." Devlin said. "We might as well go  
together. Could be easier."

Bangs smiled. "I don't mind that, lets go!"

Scorch yawned. "We're supposed to come early, lets try to pick up our pace."

With that, the trio headed towards their destination.

**VvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvV**

**Time: 6:07 AM**

**Location: Freedom HQ**

While that had been going on, Sally Acorn had been going through  
papers. One was a bio G.U.N. sent her of a mobian eligible to join the  
new ranks. The paper read as follows:

Miss Acorn,

Upon seeing your advertisement, we found someone that could prove to  
be of assistance. Here is some information for her.

Sally found a picture attached to the letter. It showed a purple  
female hedgehog with quills reaching midway down her back. She had  
emerald green eyes and a slightly tanned muzzle. She wore a white  
t-shirt under a black leather jacket. She also had black jeans, and  
jet black trainers with a white stripe around the edge. Three long  
blades were worn on each of her knuckles. Sally continued reading the  
information.

Name: Lexi the Hedgehog

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Bio: She has become well known for stopping wanted criminals. However,  
against our wishes, she kills them. We can no longer keep up with all  
of the villians she's killed, and hope the Freedom Fighters can keep  
her busy.

Sally thought for a minute, then turned to Sonic and Tails, who were  
playing a game of chess.

"Could you two go find this 'Lexi the Hedgehog'?" she asked, tossing  
Sonic the letter. Sonic, without a glance, caught it and took off with  
Tails in less than three seconds. Sally smiled and turned towards the  
rest of the papers.

"Um, excuse me?" a voice asked.

Sally looked up to find a female kitsune with creamy orange fur. She  
had black hair reaching down to her waist, and blue eyes. She wore  
blue jean capris, a hot pink tank top, black sneakers, and a black  
belt with two guns attached to it. She looked to be fourteen years  
old.

Sally smiled, reconizing the fox. "Kaitlyn Thorne, I've been expecting you."

"Please, just call me KT." she responded, somewhat quickly.

Sally nodded. "Your brother, Leif, will be cared for by my two  
friends, Antione and Bunnie, why you work with us."

KT nodded. "As long as he's kept safe."

Sally once again nodded in understanding. "I promise he will be given  
the best of care. I'm glad you decided to join. Please go into that  
room on the right. Thats where the recruits wait." she said as she  
motioned to a door. KT said a quick thank you before entering the  
room.

The room contained rows of chairs, in which KT took a seat. Another  
mobian sat in the room, as well.

This mobian was unlike any other mobian. For one thing, not many  
mobians were the heir to the throne of Camelot. He was sixteen years  
of age, nearly ready to be king. However, he had decided early on to  
give himself more experience before becoming king, and thats why he  
had joined the new ranks. He was a turtle with deep blue skin, blonde  
hair, and yellow eyes. He wore an aqua shirt with a blue X crossing  
over it, and a virgo sign over the X. His appearance was complete with  
navy blue boots, along with a navy blue headband placed slightly above  
his forehead. His weapon was a sacred sword called "Aquarion". It had  
a golden flared appearance with a V end, and was enveloped in two  
golden spirals. Sacred swords are very unique from regular blades. For  
one thing, it had magic properties, for another, it could speak. Most  
of the time, this was seen as a gift. Other times, it was a curse.

"Sir Bedwyr, I do believe we've been here for a solid hour." the blade  
said to his master.

"Hush, Aquarion. Be patient."

"Patient? Patient!? I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, SIR, THAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING  
FOR MY USE ALL THE TIME YOU WERE BEING TRAINED TO WIELD ME! THAT TOOK  
MOST OF YOUR LIFE!"

"I KNOW, AQUARION. BUT DO YOU HAVE TO SHOUT IT?" Bedwyr asked, just as  
loud as Aquarion. He was hoping that shouting back would give his  
blade a bit of a "message" that he shouldn't be yelling. Sadly, it  
didn't work.

"SIR, I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT THAT WAITING HERE FOR TWO HOURS HAS  
RUINED MY PATIENCE."

Bedwyr felt like shouting back, until he noticed KT giving him an  
awkward stare. He chuckled nervously.

"Um, just ignore him." he said quickly.

KT gave a sarcastic grin. "Ignore who? Do you have an imaginary friend?"

"IMAGINARY FRIEND?!" Aquarion shouted, "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, YOUNG  
LADY, THAT I AM A SACRED SWORD, MIND YOUR MANNARS!"

KT growled. "Do you have a problem with me?"

"N-No! He said that!" Bedwyr stated as he pointed at the sword, trying  
to not cause trouble.

"Whatever." KT said.

"Great, now I'm stuck in a room with some weirdo with a split  
personality." she thought.

Bedwyr glared at his sword. "Careful, Aquarion. You need to stay  
quiet, we're irritating the poor girl over there."

"We? I believe it was YOU, sir."

At that moment, Sonic and Tails burst into the room, with another  
hedgehog following that could only be Lexi.

"WE'RE BACK!" Sonic shouted.

"...And your telling me to be quiet?" Aquarion asked in a whisper to  
his master. Bedwyr, who had had it past his highest limit, hung his  
head back.

"OH, JUST SHUT UP!"

Sonic glared at the turtle. "Geez, Bedwyr, no need to get all touchy with me."

"I-I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Aquarion."

"Oh..." Sonic replied in understanding. Bedwyr was an old friend of  
his, so he knew very well that he owned a sacred sword.

"Um... is Aquarion a real person?" KT asked.

"Of course!" Tails said, "Aquarion, say something!"

Bedwyr lifted the blade up, so KT could see the voice would be  
originating from the sword.

Oddly enough, Aquarion refused to speak. KT rolled her eyes. "Great,  
all three of you must be crazy."

Bedwyr spoke up, "Sir Tails, I believe he isn't speaking because I...  
shouted at him."

"Uh huh." KT said sarcastically.

"Hey, it really does talk!" Sonic stated, not pleased that Bedwyr was  
currently being veiwed as a crazy mobian.

At that moment, Scorch, Devlin, and Bangs entered the room. Devlin  
noticed Bedwyr.

"Ah, your the legendary knight that helped Sonic, correct?"

"Well, you could say that..."

Seriously?! Your the dude with the talking sword?" Scorch asked, butting in.

Sonic looked at KT and smirked.

"Told'ja so."

Bangs looked around the room. "...Are we in the right place?" she asked.

"You are." Sally answered.

"Good, I was begining to think Sonic brought me to the nuthouse." Lexi  
said with a smirk.

Sally just smiled politely. "Your Lexi, correct?"

"No, your thinking of the other girl. Yes, I'm Lexi.

Sally ignored her sarcasm. "GUN told me about you, I hope you make the  
most of your time here."

"Yeah, whatever."

Sally then turned to the rest of the room. "Good morning, everyone! I  
would like you to all to introduce yourselves, starting at my right."  
The introductions came as follows:

"Devlin of the Raiju Clan, your highness. It is an honor to help the  
Freedom Fighters."

"Sir Bedwyr the 2nd, at your service! And this is my loyal blade, Aquarion.!"

"Thank you, master." Aquarion said, finally speaking again. The  
introductions continued.

"'Sup! I'm Scorch!"

"Hi, everyone! You can call me Bangs!"

"I go by KT, or whatever suits me best."

"Lexi. Seriously though, why do we have to do this if we already wrote  
our names down on the form?"

Sonic grinned. "Because we don't have forms."

Tails spoke next. "Training will begin soon, I hope your all ready!"

Unknown to them, a figure stood outside the door, listening intently.  
With a chuckle, he sped out of the base. He had to report this to his  
new boss.

VvVvVvVvVvVvV

**Time: 6:28 AM**

**Location: New Mobotropolis Central Park**

"Here we are, guys!" Unova said as the foursom looked around.

"I never asked for help..." Whirl growled.

"Oh, hush dude. Your lucky Darkness didn't arrest you." Eclipse said  
with a chuckle.

Darkness, meanwhile, was reading a poster. "Guys, you might want to  
check this out."

When the others gathered around the poster, Darkness read it out loud.  
"Recruits needed. Location: Freedom HQ Be there by 6-7 PM. Hmm..." he  
pulled out his tablet. "You know..." he said as he read over  
information, "Shifter's first form was discovered by these 'Freedom  
Fighters'. Joining them could prove to help thw three of you find  
him."

"Interesting..." Whirl said, re-reading the poster. "Maybe we can stop  
him this way..."

"I'll do it." Unova said with a smile.

"I guess I don't really have a choice here." Eclipse implied.

"I'll stick around, maybe It'll be fun." Darkness grinned. With that,  
they made their way to Freedom HQ.

VvVvVvVvVvVvV

**Time: 11:00 PM**

**Location: ?**

The figure zipped into the base, past a gate carved into stone, and  
through a passage within a giant rock. He stopped in front of a dark,  
large silhouette.

"Sir, the Freedom morons made a new team. It appears that they'll be  
sent after us, while the original team goes after Robotnick."

The large silhouette slammed his fist on a table, causing it to crack.  
The figure bowed in a mixture of respect and fear.

"S-Sir, killing them c-could prove to be... worthwhile."

Mechanical sounds were heard as the silhouette stepped into the light,  
and smiled.

"It will. Consider it done."

The figure smiled at his boss, then left the room.

**A/N: GOSH, THAT TOOK SO DANG LONG TO WRITE! I hope I did well with**  
**everyone's OC's. Special thanks to Acid Fish for supplying the villian**  
**for this fic (he was the silhouette at the end of this chappie).**  
**Please R&R.**  
**ALSO,, I've got a question: What should the name be for the new team?**  
**Say it in the reviews, and I'll pic my favorite. In the meantime,**  
**check out my other fanfic, "The Echo".**

**Ciao!**

**-Gnat1**

**It doesn't matter what you say, but how you do it.**


	4. The First Mission

A/N: Its here. Finally, its here.

I've been working on The Echo, its plot is getting highly deep (If you  
could make ANY sense of that, then you get a cookie), therefore I  
didn't pay much attention to this one. Sincerest apologies.

Nick, thanks for offering to help! Unfortunately, it works  
differently with how I upload my fanfics, so that wouldn't work out  
well. Sorry :(

...So Let's begin, shall we?

OH, WAIT! I forgot to tell you, that I'm adding music to this fic later on.  
Are any of you familiar with Syaoron the Fox? If so, then you should  
recognize the way I will be inputting the music, which can all be looked  
up on Grooveshark (if your not familiar with Syaoron, I urge you to  
read some of his fics, their amazing). Anyway, most of the music will  
be by Crush 40. Be afraid...

ALSO... for the team name, I decided on Kaitlyn Thorne's "The  
Alternates". I decided to change it slightly to "The Alternate Freedom  
Fighters" as its official name. The reason is that in the comics,  
theres another group called "The Secret Freedom Fighters". So why not  
have an Alternate Freedom Fighters?

Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing. *sob sob sob* But thats the way the world  
goes round, right?

Sadface, anyway...

-Chapter 4: The First Mission-

Time: ?

Location: ?

A deep, malevolent, almost morphed voice echoed through the deep halls  
of the base. It was a voice that sounded completely unnatural, yet  
twisted enough to cause one not to wonder about it any longer. It was  
a voice born to strike fear in the hearts of the most couragous, to  
show the world what he thought of it.

"They believe us to only exist in rumor. We are a myth. A legend. A  
nightmare. But we are real. Alone, we are mighty. United, we are  
flawless." He stopped to gaze over the many activities going on in the  
factory below where he was standing.

"Yes... and when we put ourselves forth, we NEVER fail! Soon, all of  
Mobius will know us by name!"

"SIR!" a Mobian shouted, rushing in. He took a bow before continuing.  
"That group, sir. The extra one Sally Acorn created. I got 'em. All of  
'em. Here they are."

He tossed a folder on to a table before the figure. Upon making  
contact with the table, a number of papers full of photos and  
information spread out from it. The figure snatched one up.

After reading over it, he let out a low growl. "Interesting. They  
really aren't playing around." He showed the Mobian a picture of  
Bedwyr. "They've got a practical king on there. Could you imagine?  
What if we were to go after him first?" He threw it down with disgust,  
and picked another one up. A look of anger filled his face as he  
glared at the next one.

"Janice "Bangs" Cahill... Lexi the Hedgehog... Devlin of the Raiju Clan..."

"...Your familiar with them, sir?" the Mobian asked.

"BAH! All of them!" he growled. "Those last three have gained a  
reputation in stopping organizations I've played a part in, and look  
at this one!" He snatched up the picture of Scorch. "Reconize HIM?"

The Mobian gasped. "T-Thats-"

"Our 'test subject', yes... He was the one that escaped. We never did  
get a chance to remove his abilities before we were done testing them  
on him. Now look what he's done! His entire body is red! Its caused  
him to become more powerful in the abilities he was never meant to  
keep!" he sighed as he reached for the picture of Kaitlyn Thorne, or  
KT. "Oh... and this one here... this appears to be the daughter of  
Henry Thorne, remember him? We needed one of his inventions, and  
Lien-Da's army was ruthless enough to kill him." he dropped the  
picture carelessly to the floor, and then noticed the remaining four  
pictures.

"...Who are these?" He growled.

"These four just recently joined, sir". the Mobian answered. "This one  
is appearently a leader of the Zone Cops" He said, motioning to the  
picture of Micheal "Darkness" Dawson. "The wolf is a warrior that  
aided the likes of Silver and Blaze, far off into the future." he  
continued as he pointed to Unova the Wolf. He then grabbed Whirl's  
picture "Not much is known about this one, but he has high power  
rankings within him. Very high. He could prove to be a great danger to  
us."

"Hmm... and who is that?" the figure growled as he pointed to the  
picture of Eclipse.

"Sir, he is from the future as well, but he, he has some dangerous  
secrets. Some tracings of Serum X is in his body, but in the form of  
lycanthropy. Thats why he has the inhibitor rings."

The figure was silent. After a short moment, he spoke again.

"Serum X? I thought that was only contained in Thunder the Lion. Hmph,  
we could use the one with lycanthropy. What havoc could be created by  
removing the inhibitor rings? ...I'll think more of this later." he then  
turned his back before calling another command.

"Its time to do the Chaos Energy testing."

VvVvVvVvV

Time: 8:47 AM.

Location: Freedom H.Q.

"...This is it?" Whirl asked, a skeptical expression on his face. He  
had just been recruited into the Alternate Freedom Fighters a few days  
ago, alongside Darkness, Eclipse, and Unova, but had never actually seen it's base. The base for the new  
recruits, better known as Alternate HQ, was just an add-on to Freedom  
HQ. While the Freedom Fighters had a large building for a base, the  
Alternates had a meeting tower that had just been built onto the side  
of the original. In other words, Alternate HQ was just a signal tower,  
but big enough to fit an entire team and a few computers.

"Greetings." a voice called from across the room. They turned to find  
Sally Acorn. "There are still a few things that I must discuss with  
Sonic and Rotor, and will have to leave you here for now. So feel free  
to make yourselves comfortable, we have couches, chairs, and a few  
tables over there. The rest of the team should be waiting there as  
well." she motioned to a large corner of the room before exiting the  
tower. Unova glanced to where she motioned to find Devlin, Bangs, KT,  
Scorch, Lexi, and Bedwyr waiting for them.

"Aquarion, these are the time travellers we were told about!" Bedwyr  
exclaimed excitedly to his blade. KT rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I never got to meet you guys!" Bangs exclaimed. "I'm Janice  
Cahill, better known as Bangs. This is Devlin, Scorch, Lexi, Bedwyr,  
and KT". The mentioned teammates waved in greeting, save for Devlin,  
who had dozed off.

"Er, thats great." Eclipse said quickly. "Do you know when their gonna be  
done with whatever their talking about? We're kinda in a rush."

"Relax, Eclipse." Darkness said as he sat in a chair. "We are in no hurry."

"Are you SERIOUS!?" Whirl asked impatiently. "Our timelines are on  
the verge of destruction, and you want us to relax?"

"Just take a seat, Whirl" Unova suggested as calmly as possible.  
"According to Darkness, this is the team that saved our timeline, and  
we were part of it. I think we can kick back for a while", and with  
that, she flopped on a couch and leaned against the armrest.

Eclipse sighed and sat at the table across from Lexi. Whirl was about  
to argue with Unova when a loud snore erupted from Devlin. Scorch  
growled and slapped his arm, causing the lynx to wake up with a start.

"WHAT THE HEC, SCORCH?"

"Dude, what kind of freakin' ninja snores his head off?"

"Is that ANY reason to go around slamming peoples arms?"

"He has a point, Scorch." Aquarion joined in. "He is a ninja, after  
all. Treat him with respect."

"THANK YOU." Devlin nearly announced.

Bedwyr glared at his blade. "Aquarion, we honestly don't need your  
opinion on everything."

"My opinion? You would have said the same thing!"

"And what do you mean, 'treat Devlin with respect'?" Scorch butted in.  
"I have every right to act how-"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Lexi shouted, finally having enough of the  
arguing. Everyone was instantly silent. KT and Bangs simultaneously  
let out a sigh of relief before drifting into thought. The room had finally calmed down.

Meanwhile, in the main room of Freedom HQ, Sally had just sent Sonic  
and Tails off to scout out Robotnick's newest base. Rotor was still  
there, and they were talking to a G.U.N General.

"Are you sure this is safe? I mean, he has been classified as highly  
dangerous." The General asked Sally.

"Absolutely." Rotor answered for Sally. "We have done this multiple  
times before, and some have even turned out to be top Freedom  
Fighters."

The General sighed. "Fine", he said, before pulling out a radio  
device. "Bring him in." he spoke into it.

A moment later, the doors to the main room opened, and two armed  
soldiers walked in, with a handcuffed mobian between them. They set  
the mobian on a chair in the center of the room, and Sally approached  
him. She cupped her hand under his chin, forcing him to look up, and  
revealing the face of a green lion.

"Thunder the Lion, correct?" she asked. The lion grunted a sound of  
agreement, as he obviously didn't feel like speaking. His emerald  
green fur shone darkly on his large, catlike ears. He was rather small  
for a lion, and had a thin and wispy mane. He had cold, purple eyes,  
and wore blue Vibram shoes.

"A few months ago, Thunder, you were imprisoned for stealing weapons  
from G.U.N, and working with a large group of criminals." Sally said  
grimly.

"Now, while we are still not sure if your guilty or not, we're giving  
you a second chance." Rotor continued. "Hopefully, you can help us  
locate the criminal's base, and you are to work with the Alternate  
Freedom Fighters. Understand?"

The lion nodded.

"Excellent." Sally finished as she thanked the G.U.N soldiers for  
bringing him. She and Rotor then left and brought Thunder to the small  
tower outside, Alternate HQ, through the doors, and before the new recruits.

"Okay, team, this is Thunder, he will be assisting you on your first  
mission." Rotor announced.

The team jumped up and prepared themselves for their first assignment.

"Your first mission," Sally continued, "Is to investigate the strange  
Chaos readings coming from Water Palace." she then turned to Darkness.  
"And seeing you lead the Zone Cops, I would like you to lead the team  
on this mission. Darkness nodded, and the team prepared to leave.

"Good luck, team, and bring back a full report!" Rotor called as the  
team exited the tower. He then turned to Thunder and removed his handcuffs.

"Don't try anything, Thunder." Rotor hissed.

The lion smirked. "Don't trust me, do you? Even if I did, I would like  
to see this team try and stop me," he growled before following the  
group.

Rotor sighed and turned to Sally.

"I hope this wasn't a mistake..."

VvVvVvV

"So... where exactly is the Water Palace?" KT asked as they walked  
aimlessly across the plain stretching before Freedom HQ.

"Well..." Bangs began as she held up a small computer device. "Tails  
created this a while ago, and says its made to trace Chaos Energy. So,  
if we tap into this chaos radiation, it should lead us directly to our  
destination."

"Interesting..." Darkness thought aloud. "Why would chaos energy be  
radiating from Water Palace?"

"Uh... does Water Palace mean its gonna be loaded with water?" Scorch  
asked nervously.

Lexi chuckled. "What tipped you off, Sherlock?" she said in a sarcastic tone.

"Whats your problem with water?" Darkness asked curiously.

Scorch ignited his right hand on fire. "Um, hello? Nearly all of my  
attacks are fire based."

"Really?" Darkness said as he gazed at Scorch's hand. "Thats  
fascinating, how did you achieve that kind of power?"

"I'd rather not talk about it..." Scorch answered flatly as the flames  
on his hand faded.

The team moved on, picking up their pace. It wasn't long before they  
left the plain and entered a tropical forest.

"Ugh." Eclipse exclaimed as a vine got caught on his shoe. He sighed  
and yanked it off. "Is cutting through the jungle our ONLY route?" he  
called up to Bangs.

"Well, its the fastest route." she answered as she ducked under a tree trunk.

"But it doesn't seem like the easiest." Unova growled as her left ear  
got caught in a tree branch.

"Heh, are you kiddin'? This is AWESOME!" Thunder shouted as he shot  
through the brush. KT didn't seem pleased with this.

"He was just recently arrested, wasn't he? Shouldn't we keep a better  
watch on him?" she asked as she pointed to the fast-moving Thunder.

"He shouldn't even BE here." Lexi growled. "G.U.N should have kept him  
behind bars. He's lucky I didn't catch him, or he'd be paying with his  
life."

"From what I heard, he may not be guilty." Bedwyr called back to the  
hedgehog and fox. "The Freedom Fighters evidently have faith in him,  
and are giving him another chance. Everyone deserves a second chance."

"Spoken like a true knight, Bedwyr!" Aquarion congratulated him,  
earning a smile from his master.

"Sheesh, HOW MUCH FARTHER THROUGH THE JUNGLE?" Eclipse called.

Bangs growled and whipped around, frustrated. "Listen dude, this trail  
may go on forever! Sure, its thicker than molasses, but that doesn't  
mean you have to remind us of it! Now, if you be patient and wait,  
maybe-"

"Hey, look, we're here." Darkness exclaimed as they reached the edge  
of the jungle and found themselves looking over a large, waterlogged  
marble palace. The group stopped and looked around.

Devlin and Whirl both jumped up simultaneously. "I'll start looking  
for the energy source." Whirl said quickly, as he gazed at all the  
water before him. He then ran off and pulled out a small  
chaos-tracking device, similar to the one Bangs had, but not of the  
greatest value. Devlin followed close behind.

"Do you have anything?" the lynx asked Whirl.

"Not sure..." he answered as he pointed the device in various directions.

Suddenly, Thunder hopped out of the brush and landed with a thud. He then surveyed the view.  
Beyond the palace, there was an ocean bay and a small city, in the  
middle of more jungle. It was a splendid view, to say the least, but  
Thunder's sudden appearance startled Devlin and Whirl, causing the  
latter to drop the device in a pool of water. He quickly snatched it  
back up only to find that the water had fried it.

"Great, now look what you did!" he shouted at Thunder. His voice,  
however, was cut off by a loud intercom going off.

"INTRUDERS! QUICK, STOP THEM BEFORE THEY SEE ANYTHING! THEY MUST BE  
OBLITERATED!" a voice blared through hidden speakers. Darkness, Bangs,  
KT, Bedwyr, Scorch, Lexi, Unova, and Eclipse rushed over to the other  
three.

"WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?" Unova shouted in question, while sirens began to go off.

No one got to answer as suddenly a group of figures rushed around  
them, surrounding the team instantly.

"Sorry, but you need a card to enter." a voice, similar to Sonic's,  
laughed as a green hedgehog stepped out of the shadows. The team  
gasped as he was instantly reconized, and Darkness slapped his hand to  
his forehead.

"Oh, crap. We ran into the Destructix."

A/N: YEAH, CLIFFHANGER! Sorry, this chapter was kind of short. I just  
needed to write this down quickly to prove to the world that I am no  
longer dead XD. May not be forever, though, so I must write as much as  
I can. Also, I never used music in this chapter. Oh well :( But the  
next chapter will be longer, epic-er, and will contain an intense  
background musical beat!

Anyway, I strongly urge you to check out The Echo, as it will share a  
strong connection to this story. Oh, BTW, The Echo is also nearly  
complete, but (spoiler alert!) its actually just a prolouge to a fic  
I've been preparing for some time now, entitled The Echo: Awakening.  
So you may want to take a look at that when its up (this fic actually  
does share one thing with those other fics, but I can't say it or the  
whole story will be spoiled). Anyway, please leave a review, be happy,  
open your heart, live and learn, fight the good fight, do it gangnam  
style, etc etc.

Seeyuz!

-Gnat1


	5. A Brawl in the Water

**A/N: Alright, this will be the last chapter before I take a quick**  
**break to write "A Super Smashin' Christmas", and then I'll return to**  
**this fic at the beginning of January, at the latest.**

**Some of you may reconize Thunder, as he's appeared in a heavy number**  
**of fanfics, and most of my A/N's. Now, however, he shall be answering**  
**the reviews of the last chapter, right Thunder?**

**Thunder: Yup! I'll start now...**

**Werehog20: Yeah, I found it rather comforting when Gnat1 returned**  
**(otherwise I might be forgotten!). And yes, Gnat1 mentioned that he**  
**picked Water Palace for many reasons, one being for water-based**  
**characters such as Bedwyr, so there's gonna be a lot of butt-kicking**  
**in this chapter XD**

**Duskzilla: Sweet, we'll be sure to use that song! Eclipse's Werehog**  
**form won't come in this chapter, but Gnat1 is planning it for the next**  
**one, so thanks for suggesting music! And Serum X will play a large**  
**roll in this story. It plays a significant part in my past, and Gnat1**  
**decided to kind of combine all of our history's, so we decided that**  
**Serum X should be connected to Eclipse as well. I think you'll be**  
**pleased with the creative merge of stories we're doing here :)**

**TatlTails: YES! I knew many reactions would be like this! The**  
**Destructix is BY FAR one of the most powerful enemies in the Sonic**  
**Universe! We'll have to see how this unfolds...**

**Acid Fish: Heh heh, I'll be sure to tell Gnat1 that! Thanks for**  
**reviewing, and I'm glad you liked it! Your OC should appear in this**  
**chapter, by the way :)**

**Epic Jac: Yay, another suprised reaction! Yep, its gonna get real, or**  
**your money back! Wait... you never paid, did you. Oh well.**

**HEY, GNAT1, CAN WE START ACCEPTING PAYMENTS FROM THE READERS?**

**Gnat1: NO!**

**Thunder: Pff, whatever. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! You are truly**  
**The Epic Jac!**

**Casino Nights: Thanks, I'm glad we're protraying everyone correctly!**  
**(I think we are, if not I better go tell Gnat1). Hmm... Lexi's had a**  
**run-in with Scourge, you say? Well, we'll keep that in mind (lol, I**  
**wrote down two types of "well's").**

**Nick: I actually agree with Whirl on that one. Gnat1 used a lot of**  
**EPIC songs in the last chapter!**

**Gnat1: *calling from the background* Um, Thunder? I didn't have ANY**  
**songs in the last chapter...**

**Thunder: Exactly! Anyway, we're glad your enjoying the story, Nick!**  
**Thanks for reviewing!**

**Now, I, the amazing Thunder, shall do thy amazing disclaimer.**

**Gnat1: No, you won't.**

**Thunder: But-but-but why not?**

**Gnat1: Just ignore him, guys. Anyway, special thanks to gamer097 for**  
**doing some extra Destructix research and Acid Fish for supplying this**  
**fic's epic villian.**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. 'Nuff said.**

**Time: 8:49 AM**

**Location: A Mountain Range, somewhere near Mystic Ruins.**

Sonic looked cautiously over the base with Tails. Their only hiding  
spot was a small ledge, coming from a mountain overhanging this new  
"Secret Base" Robotnick had made. Tails peered through with his  
binoculars.

"See anything, Tails?" Sonic asked his friend.

"Robots, ray guns, robots, chain-link fence, robots, more robots, a  
'Robotnick Systems' logo, did I mention robots?" Tails answered in a  
humorous voice.

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, that's the Eggster's usual gimmick. See if you  
can zoom in on the Control Room."

Tails nodded and fixed the lens on the large windows of what could  
only be the Control Tower.

"He's working on something, thats for sure." he zoomed in further.  
"Wait... it looks like a roboticized Mobian. A Robian, maybe? Wait...  
no... he's armoring a Mobian!"

Sonic turned away from the view of the nearby mountain range. "Say what?"

"Look for yourself." Tails simply replied, handing he binoculars to  
Sonic. The cobalt hedgehog peered through, trying to make out what it  
was.

"Tails, thats not a roboticized Mobian... that's a perfectly fine  
Mobian! It looks like Eggman's repairing it's injuries with robotics.  
Wait, hold on, it just stood up..."

Tails looked at the glorious mountain peak, far beyond their location,  
but large enough to be seen miles away. He waited for Sonic's reply.

"Yeah, Sonic? Didn't you say it stood up? Hellooooooooo..." Tails called.

Sonic didn't answer.

Tails sighed, and turned to face his friend, only to gasp in shock.  
The blue hedgehog's face was pale, as if he had just witnessed an old  
nightmare returning to him.

"Sonic, are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost!" Tails said, a  
concerned look on his face.

Sonic gulped. "I think I just did, Tails. You might want to take a  
look at this."

VvVvVvV

Welcome to the planet **Mobius!** A world unique and beyond from the **SEGA**  
**Games**, where **Sonic** and the heroic **Freedom Fighters** have formed a new,  
special organization of elites. A group simply called the Alternate  
Freedom Fighters, or better known as...

**The New Recruits**

**-Chapter 5: A Brawl in the Water-**

**VvVvVvV**

**Time: 11:01 AM**

**Location: Water Palace.**

The Alternates found themselves surrounded, and confused, to say the  
least. They simply watched as some of the planet's most wanted outlaws stepped out of the shadows. There was Scourge the Hedgehog,  
Fiona Fox, Sergeant Simion, Predator Hawk, Flying Frog, and Lightning  
Lynx. Although the group they all formed had been proved to be very  
powerful, they weren't the only ones. Team Hooligan, composed of Nack,  
Bean, and Bark were there as well.

"I'm gonna ask you guys a question." Scourge said with a smirk. "What  
prodded you guys to stalk us all the way down here?"

Whirl growled. "We were not 'Stalking'. We were told that there was  
Chaos Radiation coming from here."

Scourge smiled. "All of you comin' down here... just to do some  
checking up? Sorry, not buying it." He looked at each alternate.

"We don't care if your doing a stupid investigation, we're going to  
'dispose of you', if your followin' me here." The green hedgehog  
chuckled.

"Alright kids, put your hands up." Simion growled as he and his allies  
pointed their weapons at the team. Devlin sighed and tried to find a  
way out of the situation. Could he attack? Set a distraction?

"Pss!" Bedwyr hissed at Devlin. The lynx glanced at him. Bedwyr  
quickly pointed to a kunai hanging on Devlin's belt, and nodded  
towards a chandelier hanging behind Simion. Devlin processed what the  
turtle was trying to tell him, before finally nodding. He grabbed the  
kunai off his belt.

"I said PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" the ape growled.

Slowly, each Alternate lifted their hands over their heads. Devlin  
gripped his kunai, and as he brought his hands up, threw it at the  
chandelier. The kunai flew threw the air and landed a direct hit on  
the chandelier's chain, breaking it and causing the entire  
candle-structure to come falling down, and thus slam into the floor.

CRASH!

"What the..." Simion thought as all of the Destructix and Hooligans  
whirled around to face the sound's origin.

Devlin smirked as he and his team drew their weapons, turning the tide  
in their favor.

[Music Playing: This Machine, by Crush 40]

"Alright, that's enough questioning." Unova announced with a grin.  
Their enemies snarled as they quickly charged forward, and engaged the  
team into an intense battle.

Darkness and KT began firing off from their guns immediately, ducking  
behind cover of a small water fountain. Nack dived behind another one  
and pulled grabbed a crate. He ducked low as he pulled a machine gun  
out from it.

"Uh oh" KT groaned as she and Darkness did their best to avoid the  
constant fire. KT decided that, if she wanted any chance at beating  
the weasel, she would have to stay behind the fountain for now.  
Suddenly, she felt someone nudge her. She turned to see Darkness  
handing her a grenade.

"This should work. When say, throw it over to Nack." the black  
hedgehog said with a grin as he pulled out a grenade of his own. They  
both waited patiently until Nack took a quick break to reload.

"NOW!" Darkness shouted as they both chucked their weapons at the  
weasel's location. They waited for a few moments until...

POW!

A cry of pain escaped Nack as he got launched into the ceiling from  
the explosion, and fell back down unconscious.

KT fist pumped while Darkness smirked to himself.

"Owtch!" Bean grunted as Lexi slammed her foot into his stomach. The  
duck flew up quickly to catch some air. Lexi grinned as she put on her  
trademark weapon, which was a set of knives all connected like a claw,  
enabling her to attach them to each knuckle. She noticed Scourge about  
to fire a shot from his pistol at where Unova was, and quickly slammed  
the gun out of his hand, and knocking him down.

Scourge glared daggers at her, with malice in mind.

"...You!" he growled.

Lexi smirked. "It's been awhile, eh Scourge?"

The emerald hedgehog shot up and behind Lexi in less than a second and  
kicked her in the back. "I DO NOT want to have to deal with you  
again!" he shouted furiously. He chuckled at seeing her stumble from  
his kick, but was interrupted when the hard fist of a boxing glove  
slammed into the back of his head. Unova smirked and flung another  
punch at Scourge. At the same moment, Lexi jumped up sliced her claws  
at her rival. The impact of Unova's punch, combined with the fearsome  
cut in his arm (courtesy of Lexi), was enough tomsend him sprawling  
across the ground.

"Thanks for the back up." Unova said with a nod towards Lexi.

The purple hedgehog shrugged, "Same to you."

Bark then jumped down, causing a crack in the marble flooring, and  
readied to smash the two. He raised his huge fists and brought them  
down. Lexi and Unova tried to avoid it, but they would be too late...

"SOUL SURGE: AQUA CANNON!" Bedwyr shouted as he leaped down in front  
of the polar bear. A powerful jet of water shot out from Aquarion,  
blowing Bark back a few feet. The large Mobian stumbled across the  
sippery floor and into the deep water. Bedwyr jumped down after him.

"You doing okay, Aquarion?" he asked his blade.

"Of course! Quick, we must not let the bear exceed the upper hand!"  
Aquarion replied eagerly. Bedwyr grinned, and spotted the polar bear.  
The two circled each other beneath the water surface, each deciding what their next move  
should be. Bedwyr then kicked his back feet, propelling him through  
the water as he sliced at Bark. The polar bear shot back, and quickly  
dove further down. Bedwyr sighed inwardly and followed his opponent to  
the underwater pathway. He spotted Bark by an air pocket and quickly  
aimed Aquarion at him.

"AQUA CANNON!" he managed to shout underwater. A huge current erupted  
from his blade and launched Bark upward and out of the water. Bedwyr  
followed quickly.

Bark flew out of the water from the Aqua Cannon's force, and landed in  
front of Bangs.

The green kitsune whipped out a revolver and pointed it at the large Mobian.

"Don't move." she said sternly as her gun clicked, preparing to fire a shot.

Bedwyr hopped out of the water and landed beside Bark. It was then  
that he noticed Bean jumping down, ready to slam into Bangs.

"Bangs, behind you!" he shouted. Bangs sidestepped quickly, allowing  
Bean to splat on top of Bark.

"That... was by far the LAMEST attack plan I've seen." Bangs laughed  
as she then pointed her gun at both Bark and Bean.

"It's been a while, eh Devlin?" Lightning Lynx asked casually as he  
took out a katana.

Devlin glared at his rival. "It was never long enough. I had no  
intentions on seeing you again." The two watched each other  
suspiciously as they stood in the center of a marble slab projecting  
out of the ground, where several sculptures were set.

Lightning shrugged. "Its all the same to you, isn't it? Well, I'm glad  
your clan seems to be doing fine without me."

Devlin sighed as he took out a katana of his own. "You were exiled  
with good reason. It pains me to fight you, my friend. But I have  
realized that the path you chose involved treachary and deciet."

They immediately let out a flurry of attacks, slashing at each other  
and dodging behind statues. Devlin swung his blade at Lightning, who  
ducked behind a stone protrayal of an ancient king. Devlin's blade  
sliced it's stone arm off.

"Ugh, I can see why they called you Lightning Lynx." he growled as he  
dodged a kick from the lynx.

Simion watched the dual quietly and decided to interfere. With a grin,  
he flung himself behind Devlin, and prepared to deliver a winning  
blow.

SLAM!

"Nope." Whirl smirked as he kicked Simion into a pool of water. With a  
wave of his hand, he caused a huge wave of water to launch Simion out  
of the pool and into a small cluster of trees outside the palace.  
Whirl let a smile escape him. He had many abilities, but  
water-manipulation was his favorite.

Scourge groaned and pulled a Chaos Emerald out of his jacket. "Chaos  
Heal" he whispered into it as his wounds instantly healed up. He  
jumped up and handed the precious stone to Fiona.

"Hey babe, run this thing down to the boat we have docked down there.  
And hurry, will ya?" he said with a grin. Fiona smiled and grabbed the  
emerald, before taking off into the jungle.

Darkness saw this and quickly called to Scorch and Eclipse.

"SCORCH! ECLIPSE! STOP HER!" he shouted.

The two hedgehogs jumped up and nodded before following the fox into the jungle.

Eclipse caught a glimpse of her red tail move down the hill and headed  
that direction, Scorch close behind. The duo rolled themselves into  
balls and spun down the trail, wheeling over tree's and spiraling  
across large tree roots. Scorch jumped up into the air and aimed  
himself at Fiona, who he could now see clearly. He closed in and  
prepared to bowl her over when... she ducked under a tree branch.

"OOF!" Scorch grunted as he slammed roughly into the tree. Eclipse  
stopped by him.

"You okay?" he asked quickly. The red hedgehog nodded.

"I'm fine, you better keep moving. I'll catch up."

Eclipse nodded and went after his target.

VvVvVvV

"Darkness, you should go help them." Unova said as she motioned to the  
trail Scorch and Eclipse took.

Darkness glanced at her. "I don't think I should. There's enough trouble here."

Unova shook her head. "We'll handle it, but Fiona is said to be very  
cunning. It'll take at least three of you to take her down."

Darkness sighed. "Fine then." He then ran towards the fresh trail. He  
pulled out a small radio device on the way.

"Zonic, could you get an airboard down here?"

VvVvVvV

Eclipse growled as he slid under another branch. How was that fox  
moving so quickly? He leaped over a log and zoomed through the jungle,  
just inches from grabbing the red vixen. She suddenly made a sharp  
left, leaving Eclipse still soaring down the trail. He grunted and  
kicked off a rock, propelling him to the left direction and after  
Fiona. It wasn't long before he caught up to her again, but she was  
still a ways ahead. Suddenly, the jungle stopped and Eclipse found  
himself chasing the fox down a beach. The sand managed to slow his  
pace slightly, but he did his best to keep up.

Fiona continued running at an unchanged pace and was about to head  
into the nearby city, if it wasn't for a fireball heading her way.

Scorch flung himself out of the jungle and lit his fists ablaze. He flung a huge mass of  
fire at Fiona, but missed by about an inch.

A huge explosion of fire and sand blew the three in seperate  
directions. Scorch grunted as he slammed into the grainy sand.

"Ugh..." he groaned as he looked up from the smoke. He spotted Eclipse  
jumping up from the sand.

"Darn it, where'd she go?" Eclipse asked. Scorch shrugged as he slowly  
got back on his feet.

They both heard a low hum. Eclipse's ears pricked up.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

Scorch nodded as the hum became increasingly louder. Palm trees  
ruffled in a steady breeze as Darkness appeared on an airboard.

"Climb on, we'll catch her." the black hedgehog said calmly.

[Music Stops]

KT grinned as she made a final punch on Flying Frog. She breathed a  
sigh of relief and turned to her team.

"Okay, that's everyone."

Thunder jumped up, grinning. "Haha, great job guys!"

Devlin sighed. "Did you help with any of that?"

"Heh heh, nope!"

"Well, THAT certainly isn't supporting your team..." Aquarion began as  
he started lecturing Thunder about proper assistance. He was cut off  
when a deep voice blared through an intercom. Bangs felt her skin  
crawl at strange pecularity of the voice.

"VERY GOOD."

*muffled sounds are heard in the speakers.*

"YOU PUT ON QUITE A SHOW."

*the sound of the voice moves down to a nearby column*

"BUT YOUR EFFORTS ARE IN VAIN."

It was then that a robotic figure rocketed down by the column. He was  
a robotic hedgehog with a mostly red body, except for the center of  
him, which was black. Tubing came out from the side's of where his  
stomach would be, and connected to his head. He didn't exactly have a  
face, but instead had a black screen on the front of his head. On this  
screen was a group of purple-colored pixels that made up two eyes and  
a mouth. This digital face gave an eerie grin at the team and held his  
hand out.

"Chaos Heal."

Instantly a surge of energy went across the room, healing all of the  
wounded members of the Destructix and Team Hooligan. They got up and  
smiled deviously. The robotic hedgehog continued speaking.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Metal Dreadlord. I run this  
operation, in which you all barged in on. Fear not, we completed out  
testing before you arrived, but we don't like people investigating our  
doings. Apologies that it had to be this way."

[Music Playing: Open My Eyes, by Andy Hunter]

As he finished, thousands of Egg-Pawns dropped down from above as a  
large ship flew away. Bangs looked at them in amazement.

"Egg-Pawns? Are you tied in with Robotnick?" she asked.

"He is an ally, yes. Farewell." Metal Dreadlord answered flatly. He  
then waved his hand again.

"Chaos Control."

He, along with the Destructix and Team Hooligan, disappeared in a flash.

Whirl sighed and turned to the Egg-Pawns. His eyes narrowed as he  
concentrated on a Chaos Spear. A form of energy appeared in his right  
hand as he shouted the words and flung it at his enemies.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

A large explosion came as Whirl smiled. That is, until more came.

Lexi groaned and pulled out her claws. "Okay guys, it just got a whole  
lot worse."

VvVvVvV

"There she is!" Scorch growled as he hung onto Darkness' airboard. He  
pointed to the streets of the village, where Fiona could be seen  
dodging through the crowds.

"Right." Darkness replied. "Okay guys, remember the plan. I'm going to  
drop you off now." He then flipped his board over, causing Scorch and  
Eclipse to fall off. They landed in the streets and took off after  
Fiona. Darkness flew low over the streets and raised his revolver.  
With perfect aim, he shot from his handgun, and watched as the bullet  
whipped through the air and hit the Chaos Emerald Fiona was holding.  
She gasped as it was knocked out of her hand.

"NOW, SCORCH!" Eclipse shouted. The red hedgehog nodded and rolled  
into a ball, while also setting his whole body ablaze. Eclipse slammed  
his foot into him, kicking the flaming ball into the air. Scorch shot  
through the crowds and uncurled right before he reached the Chaos  
Emerald. He grabbed it and landed smoothly. He had made sure to slam  
through Fiona on is short trip through the air, and smiled as Darkness  
flew down on his airboard and pointed his revolver at the now knocked  
over Fiona.

"Move, and I'll shoot your hand off." he growled.

Fiona smirked as Eclipse ran up and tied her hands together with a nearby rope.

"Do you always go this far for a girl?" she called up to Darkness.

The black hedgehog gave a slight smile. "Only the one's that interest me."

Suddenly, Predator Hawk swooped down and grabbed Fiona, yanking her up  
before Eclipse could do anything.

"Sorry, but none of us are going to tolerate getting arrested by a  
Zone Brat." he hissed as he glared at Darkness. The hawk then swooped  
away, carrying Fiona with him.

Scorch chuckled. "He forgot the emerald." he said as he tossed it into  
the air, catching it again.

VvVvVvV

"I can't hold these all off for much longer..." Whirl hissed through clenched teeth.

"Just keep going..." Thunder growled as he tore through several robots  
with his clawed fingers.

Lexi sighed as she kicked one into the water. "This is ridiculous.  
There's over a hundred Egg-Pawns here!"

Unova, Bangs, KT, and Devlin didn't say anything as they all manged to  
successfully take out fifty at once. Devlin was slicing at the robots,  
and occasionally swung KT or Bangs into robots Unova was holding down  
with telekinesis. This team effort proved to be very effective, but  
the robots kept coming.

Bedwyr backed up to a large body of water in the palace.

"Aquarion, I think we've got one option left." he said to his blade  
and companion.

Aquarion sighed. "I know, but this could weaken you greatly."

[Music Stops]

Bedwyr gulped, as he realized that the amount of energy he was about  
to use could prove fatal.

"EVERYONE STAND BACK!" he called. He then got as close as he possibly  
could to the water without falling in.

"ULTIMATE SOUL SURGE: MISTY TSUNAMI!"

As soon as the words left him, a large body of water lifted out of the  
water and launched over the robots. Bedwyr grinned as it's pure energy  
rushed through him, although it proved to be exhausting. He held  
through as the water continuously shot over the robots, wearing him  
down greatly. Finally, he shut his eyes and collapsed on the ground,  
the large wave falling as well.

Devlin coughed as he drenched out his fur. As the others got up from  
the sudden water wave, he saw Bedwyr laying on the marble floor,  
unconscious.

"Uh oh." he said as he rushed over.

Thunder looked at the turtle. "Is he okay?"

Lexi came over and examined him. "Well, he's definitely not awake."

"We owe him one." KT sighed and turned to Unova. "Where's the other three?"

"They went after Fiona. Me and Bangs can round them up."

"Hurry, then!" Aquarion called. Devlin smiled at the blade.

"We'll get back to base soon and give everyone time to rest." the lynx  
then sighed. "Until then, we better think of what to say to Sally  
about this. We're definately dealing with something hostile."

**A/N: FINALLY DONE! Now I can get some sleep! I literally finished**  
**this at 12:43 AM! Okay, so I'm gonna allow you guys to send song**  
**suggestions, because I don't think my selection was that great. Well,**  
**it was actually okay, but it wasn't perfect. Anyway, R&R, everyone,**  
**and be honest! Please alert me if you detected any spelling/grammar**  
**errors. Hope y'all liked the chapter!**

**Ciao!**

**-Gnat1**


	6. Prelude to a Storm

**Gnat1: I'm back, guys! I hope your all ready for another chapter! This**  
**one will be shorter than the others, as it is kinda preparing for the**  
**next one. I decided that I'm going to do chapters like these in**  
**between each mission the OCs do. It's kinda going to be a "Let's just**  
**hang out around the base" type of chapter, so bear with me!**

**Hey, Thunder, come answer the reviews!**

**Thunder: Oh, okay! *rushes over to type***

**HOLY CROW! That's a lot of reviews!**

**Gnat1: Just do your job...**

**Thunder: Yeah yeah, I know.**

**gamer097, Glad you liked it! If you'd like to see some solo music, we**  
**might be able to work sumthin' out (although I can't guarantee it will**  
**happen right away). Hmm... I've been thinking if maybe Gnat could**  
**throw in some music by good ol' Rise Against (hint hint wink wink**  
**nudge nudge).**

**TatlTails, Sweet! I think we'll be able to get Bangs' music powers in**  
**the mix. We just may not be able to do it all the time though, but**  
**most definitely will for battle scenes :)**

**Also, that intro-ish bit in the last chapter was just a joke, paying**  
**homage to the Sonic comics (if you look at the beginning of a random**  
**one of those comics, you should find a little intro thing similar to**  
**the one Gnat made).**

**Anywayz, glad you enjoyed it!**

**Duskzilla, Wait, there's a cyborg Nazo? Huh, I never knew that. Also,**  
**I can confirm that Nazo will be in it! Yayz! Oh, and thanks for**  
**sendin' in songs!**

**Jac Bandit, Hey, you changed your username! No worries, you're still epic XD**

**Yeah, making this fanfic feel like the comics was kinda Gnat's goal**  
**when he first came up with it, so he was glad to see you noticed!**

**Werehog20, Yeah, Bedwyr! What were you thinking? Eh, that crazy**  
**turtle... Welp, he'll get some rest, along with the others, and as**  
**always, thanks for enjoying the chapter!**

**Nick, ATTA BOY, WHIRL! SHOW 'EM WHO'S BOSS! Heheh, I can assure that**  
**there's going to be some dramatic transformation and inhibitor ring**  
**removal scenes for a few of the characters, so we'll be seeing Dark**  
**Whirl! And thanks for sending songs!**

**TatlTails, Hello again! I probably won't change the werehog scene**  
**from Monster, seeing as how that's the one Duskzilla asked for it. We**  
**may use it for the dark forms as well, but we'll squeeze Animal I Have**  
**Become in somewhere! After all, there's probably going to be a few**  
**dramatic scenes, so why not?**

**Kaitlyn Thorne, That's no problemo! It always stinks when the**  
**internet is down, so I feel your pain. Glad to see you enjoyed the**  
**chapters!**

**Mk, Imma done now.**

**Gnat1: Oh, okay.**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing, HOORAY! (not). Now that this long A/N is done**  
**with, let's rev up the chapter!**

**Time: 2:48 PM**

**Location: Somewhere outside of Mystic Ruins.**

"Snooping as usual, I see."

[Music Playing: Theme of , from Sonic Adventure]

Both Sonic and Tails whirled around to face Robotnick.

"Oh, hey Eggy. It's been awhile, huh?" Sonic asked calmly.

"Silence!" Robotnick shouted at the hedgehog. "I am Dr. Robotnick, the  
greatest genius in ALL of the world!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, we've heard that like a million times now, Eggman."  
Tails replied, rolling his eyes.

"THEN WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING ME THAT?" Robotnick was furious now,  
and was angrily shouting at them, louder than before.

"Well, would you prefer something else?" Sonic asked, a smirk  
appearing on his face. "How 'bout Baldy McNosehair?"

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!"

"Big Buns?"

"NO!"

"Bushy-Face?"

By now, Robotnick's face was becoming red with anger.

"Why... are you two here... Sonic and Tails?" he questioned through  
clenched teeth.

Tails sighed. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you just built ANOTHER  
large base, and that we heard you were working on something?"

"Look, Doc, just tell us what you've got in there, okay?" Sonic added.

Robotnick grinned. "And why should I tell you that?"

Sonic laughed. "Cause that's what you always do! You're always  
gloating about it, Doc. Face the fire."

The rotund madman growled in frustration. "If you really want to know,  
that is one of our three projects we're working on."

"WE'RE working on? You made some friends, Doc?" Sonic smirked and  
crossed his arms.

"BAH! You never understand! Forget it. You can deal with it late-"

He was interrupted when a heavy layer of mist took over the small  
jungle area. Robotnick smiled.

"Why, it looks like one of my new recruits has arrived..."

[Music Stops]

Sonic squinted his eyes, trying to peer through the mist.

"Oh, so you're hiding it now, Doc?" the cobalt hedgehog asked.

"I AM NOT HIDING." a voice growled.

Robotnick grinned at the new arrival. A white figure had appeared  
floating a few feet above Sonic and Tails. An unnatural blue aura was  
emmiting from it.

Sonic looked at it curiously. "...You found me ANOTHER doppelganger,  
Doc? Really?"

The doctor smiled. "Oh, Sonic, this isn't another cheap replica of  
you..." His smile changed to a cold glare.

"...This is Nazo."

VvVvVvV

**Time: 3:19 PM**

**Location: Alternate HQ**

Bedwyr had just woken up on the small couch, resting in the main room of the A.F.F. HQ. A report of what the team had ran into was given in to Sally Acorn, and she was busily trying to find where  
the Destructix were heading. Bangs, Thunder, and KT happened to be  
near the couch at the time of his awakening.

"You feeling better?" Thunder asked, not sure what had happened to the turtle.

Bedwyr nodded and sat up. "...How long was I out?" he wondered aloud.

"A couple of hours. That Soul-Surge you performed must've taken quite  
a piece off of you." Bangs answered.

"I'm glad you did it though, it was getting pretty dicey." Thunder  
added with a grin.

Bedwyr smiled weakly. "Yeah, well that's usually what I do at a last resort."

KT spoke up next. "What about those Egg-Pawns, though? How did the  
Destructix and that Metal guy get their hands on them?"

Bangs waved it off. "The Destructix take a lot of stuff that isn't  
theirs. It wouldn't suprise me if they stole those robots."

Thunder nodded. "And that can be serious. After all, a few badniks may  
be only ONE of the things they're commanding now."

KT sighed. "I have a feeling we have a lot of work ahead of us..."

VvVvVvV

Meanwhile, in the gymnasium behind Freedom HQ, Scorch, Devlin, Lexi,  
and Unova had been practicing on the punching bags.

Scorch growled as he furiously beat his flaming fists into the large,  
overstuffed bag in front of him. He tried to bite back the memories  
that flew into his head, and the fact that his hands were on fire only  
reminded him of it more. He punched harder, the heat on his hands  
increasing, until a final blow caused the bag to disintegrate.

"Are you always this aggresive?" Devlin asked calmly, as he had just  
watched the hedgehog.

Scorch sighed and shook his head. "...Only when I'm reminded of a  
few... things I don't want to remember." He gazed at the flames  
emmitting from his fist, part of him angry, part of him saddened.

Devlin was silent for a few moments. He could detect that Scorch most  
likely had a rough past, and wasn't sure how to handle the situation.

"...Do you want to talk about it?" he asked finally.

"No..." came the reply.

"Don't worry about it, Scorch." Unova called to them from a few feet  
away. She had been landing blows on several stuffed bags, with Lexi  
taking care of the one's she was missing. "We all have some dark  
things in life, so don't beat yourself up about it."

Lexi smirked. "Yeah, like the fact that Scourge and the Destructix are  
on a rampage?"

"I didn't mean stuff like that..." Unova replied with a sigh. "But  
yes, that is a matter that is a concern..."

"Well, yeah, I know. That's why I brought it up." Lexi said with a  
somewhat bored expression.

Scorch turned away from where the punching bag once was. "We should  
probably check up on the others, to see if any news came around."

VvVvVvV

Back in the computer room, Sally jumped up from a small desk to speak  
with Darkness, Eclipse, and Whirl, who had been waiting nearby.

"I think I found the Destructix!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Darkness and Eclpse jumped up. "You did? How?" Eclipse asked.

"That same Chaos radiation is coming from a different location, but it  
left a slight trail from the Water Palace." Sally informed him.

"Well, we never DID find that Chaos Emerald..." Darkness said,  
scratching the back of his neck. "Where is it now?"

"It's moved into the jungles nearby Mushroom Hill."

Whirl stood up. "Then we should move out soon." he said grimly. "I  
don't want to waste more time than I have to."

Darkness looked over at Sally. "Could we do that?" he asked.

"It's fine by me." the squirrel answered with a shrug. "You guys  
should have plenty of light, too. There's supposed to be a full moon  
tonight."

A strange feeling passed over Eclipse, and he looked up with an almost  
frightened face.

"A full moon?" he asked to be sure. Sally nodded.

"Oh boy..." Eclipse mumbled under his breath. Darkness didn't hear, and smiled.

"Then it's settled. We'll head out in an hour."

**Gnat1: Alrighty, the short chapters done now, and a new story arc will**  
**be starting next chapter! I hope you enjoyed this filler-type chapter**  
**(although it wasn't really that long).**

**School's really getting in the way, so updating won't be so quick**  
**unfortunately, but I'll write more as soon as I can.**

**R&R, Everyone!**


	7. Tropical Storm (Part 1)

**Gnat1: I'm so sorry for the late update! It took FOREVAH to get this**  
**up! Again, terribly sorry. School is such a pain, and I've been**  
**crazy-busy lately. Anyhow, lets-a begin!**

** Chapter 7: Tropical Storm, Part 1**

**Time: 2:04 PM**

**Location: Alternate HQ**

"Everyone ready?" Rotor asked, turning to the group of Mobians behind  
him. He was met with various nods.

The walrus grinned. "Right, then hop aboard."

Suddenly, a large ship revealed itself from behind the main building  
of Freedom HQ, flying over the Mobians and landing a few yards away.

"This is the Moonflight, a powerful transport vehicle that emits  
little to no sound at all." Rotor explained. "Seeing as how Mushroom  
Hill is a pretty darn good distance away, I figured I could fly you  
all there."

"...Ho man, this thing's AWESOME!" Bangs exclaimed, running into the  
Moonflight and examining it's different mechanisms.

"How fast can it move?" Eclipse asked, looking over the metal wings of the ship.

"It can move quick enough to get you guys to Mushroom Hill before  
sunset, that's a fact." Rotor answered with a grin.

Eclipse breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..."

KT heard this and lifted an eyebrow. "You in a rush or something?" she  
asked the hedgehog.

Eclipse winced. "No... well, you could say that..."

The tension was interrupted when Aquarion spoke up next.

"Good Lord! What an intriguing machine!"

Bedwyr glanced at the blade and chuckled. "Trust me, Aquarion, there's  
a ton of things you still need to see."

"How do you know? You only know as much as me!"

"Not true!"

"Yes it is!"

"...Prove it."

"You've taken me everywhere since we left Camelot, don't you remember?  
I was even there when you went to that bar and-"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT!" Bedwyr shouted quickly.

"Well, sheesh. You're the one who did it. I don't see why I simply can't-"

"Aquarion, just... pretend that never happened, okay?"

"...What are you two talking about?" Unova asked Bedwyr and Aquarion.

"NOTHING!" the two shouted in unison.

"They just got high on coffee. Nothin' important." Lexi told Unova with a shrug.

"Oh..." Unova replied, unsure if Lexi was right or not.

Whirl and Scorch followed Bangs into the plane, while Devlin and  
Darkness began speaking with Rotor.

"So... are you going to drop us off in that thing?" Devlin asked the walrus.

Rotor nodded. "We aren't sure how many the Destructix have with them,  
so I'm going to keep a safe distance. As soon as you all finish the  
job, or if there's something important you need to tell me, use this."  
he handed Darkness a small communicating device.

"Thanks." Darkness said, taking the communicator. "Is there anything  
else we should know?"

Rotor rubbed the back of his head. "Not that I know of, I'm hoping to  
keep this as simple as possible."

Darkness nodded, while Devlin turned to the ship. "Let's hope they  
don't have that badnick horde again."

Meanwhile, aboard the vessel, Bangs had been examining the controls  
when Scorch and Whirl entered the room.

"Wow... this place isn't all that bad..." Scorch said as he scanned  
around the room.

"I know, right?" Bangs replied, still facing the controls. "Rotor  
installed these controls in a pretty darn simple way... I bet even  
Dagger could understand it."

Scorch shrugged. "You know we won't be flying this thing, right?"

"Well, yeah, these just seemed... I dunno... interesting."

Whirl tuned out of their conversation as he took a seat on one of the  
chairs inside the cabin room. "As long as it gets us there fast  
enough, I'm fine with it."

"...Chaos Control wouldn't be easier for you?" Scorch asked.

Whirl sighed. "I haven't fully gotten the swing of Chaos Energies." he  
looked down at his inhibitor rings and sighed. "It still has its...  
darker ways with me."

Scorch and Bangs glanced at each other, then shrugged.

"Well, you can't go wrong with a little practice." Bangs told him.

Whirl shut his eyes tight and clenched his fists. "I... couldn't risk it..."

"Why? You got a problem with its negative side?" Scorch asked.

"You could say that..."

"Hey, chill. Chaos energy isn't necessary." Thunder said, swinging  
through an open window, and accidently knocking Bangs into the pilot  
seat.

"Ugh, THANKS, Thunder..." she said, climbing out of the chair.

"No prob." Thunder replied, not really paying attention. "Anyhow,  
we're gonna be boardin' soon, so I suggest you all get comfy."

No sooner had Thunder said that that the others began boarding the  
Moonflight, Rotor sitting down at the controls.

Sally waved as the plane flew off, then turned back to the main  
building. She gasped when she walked inside, as she took notice of two  
barely conscious forms sprawled across two couches.

"...Sonic? Tails? Wha... ugh... what HAPPENED to you guys?"

VvVvVvV

**Time: 417 PM**

**Location: Jungle Outskirts of Mushroom Hill**

It had been a good two hours since the team had taken off, and already they were nearing their destination. Inside the ship, they had gotten accustomed to it's various gadgets, one of the more popular being the chairs...

"Hey, the seating they got here ain't all that bad." Thunder observed  
as he bounced around in his seat. Lexi rolled her eyes and grabbed the  
lion's shoulder in a death-grip, forcing him to sit still.

"Quit it. You can last a few seconds without moving." she instructed.

"Weird... its like it has bedsprings beneath the cushions..." Darkness  
said, as he to was bouncing on his seat.

Lexi's eye twitched. "Wow. And here I thought Zone Cops had a sense of  
maturity."

Darkness didn't hear her as he continued bouncing in his seat.

"Uh... these probably fold out into beds." Unova pointed out. "Hence  
the reason your seats are so... bouncy."

"Gotta admit, they didn't go low class with this machine!" Bedwyr said  
after hearing Unova.

"Well, with Nicole's nanite systems, building this thing was a walk in  
the park." Rotor called from the pilot seat.

"Seriously? Nanites?" Bangs asked, awestruck.

"Hm? Yeah, they use it all the time here." Devlin told her. "In fact,  
we've used a bit of it back in the Dragon Kingdom."

"Wowee, I rarely see this kind of tech, it really is interesting."  
Bangs replied.

"Well, interesting or not, it doesn't really matter." Whirl informed  
her. "Right now, we should focus on getting to Mushroom Hill and-"

Unova suddenly jerked her head up, Devlin, doing the same. The others  
gave them quizzical looks, unsure of what had jolted them.

"...You feel something?" Devlin asked nobody specifically.

Unova nodded. "Yeah, something hit the ship." She quickly ran over to  
where Rotor was piloting the plane.

"Rotor! I think something's on the plane!" she exclaimed.

VvVvVvV

[Music Playing: "The Revolution", by BT]

The Moonflight wasn't an overly small ship, but it was large enough  
for several dark figures to land on it with a thud. They quickly  
detatched the small fly-suits from their backs and set to work. One of  
them pulled out a small computer and set it to the ship's top. The  
figure typed in a few words before the device reached into the ship's  
controls. The figure sighed as he watched the sun set over the  
tropical horizon of the Mushroom Hill suberbs. Another figure clamped  
a lock-on grabber onto the top of the vehicle's cold metal. Hooking a  
rope into this new handle, he quickly began repelling down the side of  
the ship.

"And what are you doing, exactly?"

The figure jerked his head to the right, only to face Devlin's  
hard-hitting fist. The lynx had easily clamped onto the side of the  
ship with his claws, but his sneaky attack did not go unnoticed.

A third figure leaped over the side of the plane and attempted to kick  
Devlin off. Just before making contact, a burst of fire knocked him  
offguard, and Scorch grabbed him. The red hedgehog handed the  
struggling enemy to Darkness, who was hovering over the group on his  
airboard. He looked around to see that at least ten shadowed mobians  
had gotten on top of the ship.

"Oh... well this is good." Darkness said, a sarcastic twang to his  
voice. Unova and Lexi both suddenly climbed out of the windows and  
knocked two of the figures off.

"How'd they get up here?" Lexi growled.

"What I want to know is how they found us," Unova replied. They didn't  
have time to think as the rest of the dark group rushed at them with  
strange-looking weapons drawn.

"Think fast!" Scorch shouted, launching a fireball at the oncoming group.

Of course, seeing as how no one ever seems to think fast, the figures  
yelped in pain as they felt the burning blasts of heat overtake them.

"Not bad." Darkness said, grinning at Scorch.

"Grr... don't get ahead of yourselves..." one of the figures hissed,  
pulling the computer device out and hitting a button.

VvVvVvV

"WHOA!" Rotor shouted as the plane began falling out of the skies. The  
inside of the plane began shaking like it was in a hurricane.

"What's happening?" Bedwyr asked as he and the others looked around in a panic,

"Someone tampered with the controls! Quick, bail out!" Rotor replied  
as he pulled at the doors. These however, weren't opening. Whoever  
hacked into the ship was playing dirty.

Rotor gulped and turned to the others. "Hang onto something."

"Oh, boy..." KT said as she glanced out the windows. She could easily  
spot Unova, Lexi, Devlin, and Scorch all pile onto Darkness' airboard  
in an attempt to avoid the fatal crash.

Eclipse wasn't exactly paying attention, as he was gazing at the  
inhibitor ring on his left wrist. The shaking of the ship had thrown  
him around, and the ring, much to his horror, had crashed. Already he  
was starting to feel some feral motives surface in his body. This  
wasn't going to end well.

"HANG ON!" Bangs shouted as the plane entered a tailspin, rocketing  
down into the jungle below.

[Music Stops]

VvVvVvV

A female mobian watched from atop a search tower hidden behind several  
trees. She smiled evilly as she watched the Moonflight spin down  
behind the cluster of the jungle. The sky lit up in a brief flurry of  
bright red and yellow flashes as a satisfying explosion echoed over  
the land.

_"Yes... let them burn..."_

**Gnat1: Uh oh, things aren't looking too bright...**

**I hope many found this cliffhanger not to be TOO lame, I'm horrible at**  
**describing intense stuff. Anyway, Werehog20 had a question about Nazo,**  
**and since Thunder ran off somewhere, I better explain things. I myself don't**  
**know much about Nazo, except that there was a picture of him on the**  
**4Kids website, supposedly for a future episode of Sonic X, which never**  
**happened. Anywayz, the photo was titled " ", and since then,**  
**he's become pretty popular on fanfiction :)**

**Anyhow, I hope this wasn't all too bad, and be sure to leave a reveiw!**

**P.S: The music I chose in this chapter mayy not have "fit the moment" very well. The reason is because I kinda did this in the style of the Dreamcast-era Sonic games, where it plays unfitting "theme music" whenever new characters are introduced. I'll let y'all take a guess at who the mysterious female was (hint: She loves using a rather painful whip)**


	8. Tropical Storm (Part 2)

**Gnat1: Finally, I get to update this again! Holy crudruckers its been**  
**forever! Well, I hope this chapter will make up for it, as it should**  
**contain a lot of epicness, although it is kinda short. If only I had more time to write... **

**VvVvVvV**

"Oh, crud..."

Darkness landed his airboard down beneath the dark trees and turned to  
the direction where the explosion had sounded. Devlin, Scorch, Unova,  
and Lexi piled off.

"Blast, we'll be lucky if they're alive." Devlin growled, running  
towards the wreckage of the flaming ship. The others followed shortly.

"Geez, what WAS that?" Scorch asked aloud. "Those jerks literally took  
our ship down with a remote control! Now we've got half our team  
dead!"

"We don't know that yet..." Unova calmly informed.

The first thing they noticed was Thunder clinging to a tree, barely  
conscious in the branches. Lexi quickly scampered up and pulled the  
lion down, setting him in the brush. He seemed to be in a state of  
shock, which meant the others would be, as well.

Devlin had arrived at the ship and pulled a large sheet of metal off  
of what appeared to be a Mobian form.

It was Bedwyr. The turtle blinked and weakly stood up, using Aquarion  
to balance himself.

"That was... rather discomforting..." he stated.

"You guys need to rest," Darkness told them, leading them over to a tree.

Lexi was searching through the torn remains of the cabin room. She  
thought she heard a groan escape from beneath the ripped wall that had  
fallen apart. She swiftly began lifting the large pieces, grunting due  
to the weight.

"You two can watch all you want." she said, turning to Scorch and  
Unova, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. The wolf and hedgehog took the  
hint, as Scorch helped her move a large chunk of rubble while Unova  
disposed of the rest via pyschokinesis.

Both Bangs and KT were under the pile they had removed. KT was  
coughing through the dust while Bangs had been knocked unconscious.  
Rotor was found laying in the brush just a short distance from the  
wreckage by Darkness, and Whirl had climbed out of the remains  
himself. Lexi and Devlin propped Bangs' form up against the tree with  
Bedwyr, while both KT and Whirl insisted they were fine. Rotor felt  
extremely dizzy and had to sit down for a few minutes. Everyone seemed  
to be alright, but there was still one problem.

"...Where's Eclipse?" Devlin asked.

The others looked around, and saw that indeed, Eclipse was the only  
one missing. Darkness walked over to the lynx and pointed towards more  
wreckage lying a short distance away. "If I had to guess, he's  
probably in there."

Devlin nodded, and the two made it over. There were three walls that  
appeared to once be half of the cabin room, while the seating of the  
plane was strewn across the ground. There was also a large plate of  
metal embedded into the ground.

Devlin blinked. "Are these... claw marks?"

For sure, several lines were torn through the sheets, as if a large  
animal had torn it apart.

"...This doesn't look good." Darkness remarked. He turned to see the  
rest of the team approaching, the ones that were injured had  
apparently been healed by a Chaos Emerald that Rotor brought.

Bedwyr and Lexi both approached the large metal plate in the ground  
and prepared to lift it up.

Suddenly, it flew up on it's own, and a loud roar echoed through the  
jungle. Bedwyr quickly regained his footing while Lexi grabbed onto a  
tree so as to stop herself from being knocked back.

Whirl quickly made his way over with Thunder. The two peered through  
the cloud of dust that had risen, and glimpsed an extremely large  
hedgehog. A werehog, to be exact. It growled and threw a small object  
out of the dust cloud.

It was a broken inhibitor ring.

**[Music Playing: "Monster", by Skillet]**

"Aw, crap..." Whirl and Thunder said simultaneously.

The creature clapped his hands together, causing a sonic boom effect  
to send the entire team flying into the trees.

As it stepped into the moonlight, it could be clearly seen that this  
creature clearly was Eclipse, only his fur had become a pale white,  
his boots were now spiked, as well as his collarbone. His eyes glared  
with the feral radiance of a wild dog. He let out a roar and charged  
at the group.

The team reacted quickly, everyone taking shelter while the monster  
began furiously ripping apart the forest. Whirl and Bedwyr were the  
first to come out and quickly launched a barrage of high-pressured  
water at the werehog.

"Great wonders almighty! What IS that creature?" Aquarion shouted.

"I have a feeling that is... er... WAS, Eclipse." Whirl replied,  
picking the broken inhibitor ring pieces off the ground.

"Quick, whatevers wrong with him, he needs to be calmed down!" Unova said.

"Yeah yeah, could you be anymore obvious?" Lexi asked as she attempted  
to hold the monster's arm down. The Werehog growled at her and tossed  
the hedgehog into KT.

"Whoa!" KT explained, getting knocked to the ground. The werehog  
towered over the two of them, and prepared to slam a massive fist  
down.

The hedgehog and fox reacted quickly. Lexi launched a kunai at Eclipse, while KT whipped out her pistol and shot the  
werehog's arm. Although they appeared to weaken his arm, Eclipse  
disgarded it as a minor casualty. It did buy KT and Lexi time to get  
out from under the creature, though.

"Hey, big guy!" Scorch called, launching a fireball at Eclipse.  
Darkness rammed into him with his airboard, and Unova launched a stone  
with pyschokinesis.

The attacks seemed to slow Eclipse down only slightly, as he continued  
charging through the woods on a rampage-streak. He managed to lift a  
large piece of the ship and slam it into an unexpecting Rotor, who was  
sent flying into a tree.

Bangs gulped and quickly fished out her iPod. It had been so long  
since she had used her music powers, and she wasn't sure if they would  
work the same as they used to. Nevertheless, desperate times called  
for desperate measures, and this was a desperate time.

Quickly powering up her music player, she shifted through each of her songs.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Bangs is extremely talented when  
it comes to singing along with music. So much, in fact, that she uses  
it to manipulate the notes and turn them into various different  
powers.

Anyway, the kitsune settled on a song called "Monster". It seemed  
reasonable enough given the current circumstances. She stood up and  
quietly began singing with the lyrics.

Eclipse suddenly grasped his head. Sharp pangs shot through each time  
Bangs hit a specific note. He groaned as he felt his strength slowly  
start to deplete. He saw Bangs and growled, rage fueling every bit of  
strength he had left. He charged at her and prepared to claw her  
alive.

"Don't even think about it." Thunder growled, jumping down from the  
trees and delivering a kick to the werehog. Thunder's size had  
increased greatly, and it was almost equal to Eclipse's. His eyes  
glowed and his claws and teeth had grown out. Thunder had engaged his  
beast form, one of the perks of Serum X getting pumped into your body.

The large creatures bombarded each other with various attacks, and the  
fight appeared even. Unfortunately, Eclipse managed to grab the lion  
by the mane and throw him to the ground, holding him there and nearly  
squeezing the life out from his neck. The pangs suddenly returned as  
Bangs began singing louder. He stopped and grabbed his head again.  
That was when bullets from KT and Darkness, water from Bedwyr and  
Whirl, fireballs from Scorch, flying rocks from Unova, and knives from  
Lexi and Devlin rained down onto the large hedgehog. This combined  
with Bangs' destructive voice and Thunder's revived fists pushed  
Eclipse to his limits.

The werehog roared and beat his fists into the ground, causing  
everyone to lose their balance. Eclipse growled, before hanging his  
head down, exhausted.

**[Music Stops]**

Whirl slowly approached him. "...Looks like he lost control of himself."

Rotor coughed and stood up weakly. "He's got traces of lycanthropy in  
his blood, as well as some type of serum. The inhibitor rings seemed  
to be holding it in, but now that they broke..."

Bangs shut off her iPod. "Well, at least he seems to have calmed down  
a bit." She motioned to the werehog Eclipse, who was now laying in a  
tired manner.

Rotor nodded and turned to the rest of the group. "Did everyone make  
it out of that okay?"

The team nodded in affirmative, while KT decided to raise a question.

"Do we have any way to track that group that downed our ship?"

The walrus shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Could you pick up  
anything from your technologies, Darkness?"

The coal-black hedgehog sighed, "I'd normally be able to, but most of  
the bioreading trackers are equipped into my airboard... which got  
pretty beat up..."

Rotor groaned. This meant that there was still a group of  
ship-sabotaging creeps out there, and they had no way to locate them.

Scorch glanced at his disappointed teammates. "Well, it can't be THAT  
bad, right? I'm sure the worst is behind us."

That was when several large helicopters shot low over the jungle,  
hovering a short distance above the group. Turrets were plainly  
visible among the aircrafts, trained on the Alternates. Along with  
that, thousands of armed hooded figures stepped out from the shadows,  
each aiming a gun. Eclipse growled and obtained a feral stance, while  
Lexi punched Scorch's shoulder.

"You totally jinxed that, hot-head."

**Gnat1: Okay, moment of truth, this chapter should have been uploaded**  
**MONTHS ago. I never got to write finishing touches and publish this**  
**chapter until now. I hope it pleased everyone, although it was rather**  
**short.**

**Also, I should probably let you all know that I'll only be able to**  
**update my crackfics for a while. The reason? They don't require as**  
**much concentration as my more serious fanfics (such as this or The**  
**Echo: Awakening). I'm very sorry, but school is taking up all the**  
**focus I have left, and if I update anything, it will probably be crack**  
**just because it's easier to write. I might do another chapter for**  
**Awakening, but until school slows down, I won't be writing much. Sorry about this...**

**P.S.: Although it'll be a while until the next chapter, I thought I**  
**would let you all know that the werehog action isn't over yet (in**  
**fact, it's just beginning).**


End file.
